 |
|
So far it is been brothers who have been in camp together. Thomas Gillard Ford, a reservist was visiting his son Vivian who was at the Claremont Camp. Thomas had joined the British Navy at the age of 11 and had served on a number of different ships including the Vanguard when it collided with the Iron Duke and sank. He arrived in Hobart in January 1881 and worked for the Prison Department rising to the rank of deputy gaoler before resigning. In 1893 he joined The Mercury’ . He later worked for the Customs Department.
When war broke out, being a reservist he was called up and worked in the Paymaster’s Branch at Anglesea Barracks. After the war he started writing under the pen-name of ‘The Captain’ producing a series of articles in which he apparently strolled along the streets of Hobart and described some of the history of the buildings and the people who lived there. These were later published as a book ‘In Old Days and These’.
Vivian was a 21 year old commercial traveller when he enlisted on 3 December 1917. He had previously been rejected on account of his slight build. He departed from Australia on the Euripides in May 1918. On 2 July 1918 he was allotted to the 40th Battalion and then transferred to the Machine Gun Details. Poor health and illness kept him in England. When he was finally diagnosed with Pulmonary Tuberculosis Vivian Ford was returned to Australia to be cared for by his family. Vivian Thomas Ford died on 10 September 1922, 26 years.